1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a lamp load type magnetic head, a manufacturing thereof, and a magnetic disk device including such a magnetic head.
2. Description of the Related Art
With the dramatic increase in communication speed and the amount of information being handled in communications technology, the magnetic disk device, particularly the hard disk device, is starting to be widely used in a variety of applications. The hard disk device is being adapted to have a large capacity, high recording density, high speed access, small size, and reduced weight to be installed in a notebook type personal computer or a potable terminal, for example.
In a hard disk device, recording/reproducing operations are enabled with a magnetic head flying closely over the surface of a rotating magnetic disk, the flying height of the magnetic head being around a dozen nanometers (nm). When the recording/reproducing operations are not performed, rotation of the magnetic disk is stopped, and the magnetic head is held at a standstill in contact with the surface of the magnetic disk. However, when external shock is applied to the hard disk device when the magnetic head is in such as state, the magnetic head may hit the surface of the magnetic disk to damage the surface of the magnetic disk, for example, and as a result, information recorded on the magnetic disk may not be reproduced.
In view of such a problem, a lamp load system may be implemented for moving the magnetic head away from the magnetic disk surface when it is not in use. For example, in FIG. 1, a magnetic head 100 flies over a magnetic disk 103 at a position indicated by arrow A during recording/reproducing operations. After the recording/reproducing operations are ended, the recording head 100 moves toward the outer perimeter side of the magnetic disk 103 so that a load bar 102 arranged at the tip of the magnetic head 100 comes into contact with a lamp unit 104 (at a position indicated by arrow B). Then, the load bar 102 is moved upward while being held in contact with a sloped portion of the lamp unit 104, and at the same time, a head slider 101 is raised from the surface of the magnetic disk 103 so that the magnetic head 100 may be moved to a position indicated by arrow C and stopped thereat. In this way, the magnetic head 100 may be unloaded. Upon loading the magnetic head 100, the load bar 102 is moved toward the magnetic disk 103 while being held in contact with the lamp unit 104. Then, an air bearing is formed between the head slider 101 and the surface of the magnetic disk 103, and the load bar 102 moves away from the lamp unit 104 to fly over the surface of the magnetic disk 103.
Normally, the load bar 102 is made of metal such as stainless steel, and the lamp unit 104 is made of resin material. Upon loading/unloading the magnetic head 100, the load bar 102 is held in contact with the lamp 104 as it is moved. Thus, when the loading/unloading operations are repeatedly performed, abrasive powder may be generated at the resin lamp unit 104 by the sliding motion. The abrasive powder may be adhered to the load bar 102 to then land on the surface of the magnetic disk 103 when the magnetic head is loaded. Further, the abrasive powder may be adhered to the slider surface of the magnetic head 100. When such abrasive powder or clusters thereof reside between the slider surface of the magnetic head 100 and the surface of the magnetic disk 103, the flying stability of the magnetic head may be degraded to eventually lead to head crash, for example.
In view of such a problem, for example, Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 2000-132937 discloses a magnetic disk device that prevents such abrasive powder from adhering to the surface of a magnetic disk by arranging a trench at a lamp unit to receive the abrasive powder.
However, even by implementing such measures, small amounts of abrasive powder may still penetrate into the space in which the magnetic disk and the magnetic head are arranged, and in such a case, the abrasive powder may not be prevented from adhering to the surface of the magnetic disk.